Overview

This map shows existing energy facilities, submarine cables, transmission lines and substations, and cable and pipeline areas that are part of the region’s energy infrastructure. Power generation facilities include coal, oil, gas, hydro, and nuclear plants. Information about the locations of critical infrastructure is essential to mitigate hazards to those sites and to inform potential future power generation and distribution scenarios.

Data Considerations

The offshore cable and pipeline data were extracted from the NOAA Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) and Raster Navigational Charts (RNCs) and are known to be incomplete, or may show equipment that has been abandoned. Locations of transmission lines on shore are based on public records provided by ISO New England. Submarine cable data are from a few sources including NOAA ENC and NOAA RNC, the North American Submarine Cable Association (NASCA), and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM). NASCA cables show both in-service and out-of-service cables, and annotation for cable name and owner is available beginning at a zoom scale of about 500,000. Cable locations have been removed within 100 meters of the landfall location. NASCA maintenance authority contact information is available here and more general information can be found on NASCA’s site. One additional layer shows three natural gas pipelines in Massachusetts Bay for the Algonquin Hubline, Northeast Gateway, and Neptune Deepwater Ports. The nearby LNG sites show the lighted buoy locations for the Neptune and Northeast Gateway Deepwater Ports, which were obtained from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Local Notice to Mariners. The Neptune LNG has a five-year suspension of operations beginning in 2013.

Status

These datasets have been reviewed as of fall 2015, and they will be updated as described in the 2016 Northeast Ocean Plan.

Support for Regional Ocean Planning

For information about how these data and maps were developed with stakeholder input and will be used to support regional ocean planning, please see the 2016 Northeast Ocean Plan at www.neoceanplanning.org.